Your gets all the attention, but the score is just a summary. The real document underneath it is your : a detailed list of your accounts, balances, and whether you've paid on time. If the score is your grade, the report is the full transcript.

If you don't have a copy in front of you yet, pull one free from . How to Check Your Credit for Free covers where to go and which lookalike sites to avoid. This article is about what to do once the report is open.

What's inside

Every report follows roughly the same structure. Read each section slowly:

  • Personal info: your name, addresses, and birth date. Make sure it's actually you and not someone with a similar name.
  • Accounts: every credit card and loan, with balances and your month by month. This section is the meat of the report and the source of most of your score.
  • Inquiries: a list of who has checked your credit, including each from an application.
  • Public records and collections: serious items like unpaid debts sent to .

Hunt for mistakes

Errors on credit reports are surprisingly common, and they can quietly drag down your score. Look for accounts you don't recognize, a payment marked late that you paid on time, or a balance that's plainly wrong. An account you never opened can be a sign of .

If you find a mistake, you have the legal right to it for free, and the bureau is required to investigate. Disputing an Error on Your Credit Report walks through the process step by step.

Checking your own report is one of the few money tasks that's free, can't hurt you, and might catch an error worth real points. Once or twice a year is plenty for most people.

Once you can read your report, the rest of credit gets less mysterious. You're looking at the same information lenders see, and you can fix what's wrong before it costs you.